Help reading naval muster rolls ww2

James,

Reading across the columns starting at B:

Rating, which for Robert White is CTCA (Acting Chief Turret Captain).

Detaching command, in this case USS Prinz Eugen (IX-300), a captured German heavy cruiser.  The cruiser sailed from the Baltic to the Pacific to become a part of the target array of Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in July 1946.

Date reporting aboard current command (USS Alabama (BB-60),which in this case is 29 April 1946

Service number.

I hope you find this information useful.

A. J.

Thank you for your help Alex!
I gathered that part about the Eugen, which I found fascinating.
One question I have is regarding column c across from Young, James Falvey. Under column c across from his name it says "3CRNC HA2  6506". I have no idea what this means. The rest under column c where mostly clear, but that one puzzles me. There is also the matter of the numbers that prefix the detaching command in column c, in this case 3. I wonder what those mean as well.  I had done some research prior to this, but given the obscurity and age of the topic, I was unable to find anything that remotely helped. I was under the impression that CTCA meant something to do with cryptography!
Thank you for your help, James.

James,

Column C appears to be for administrative remarks with the code numbers 1, 2, and 3 acting as prefixes for the data entry.  What those codes actually mean escapes me as well.  As James Young was a Seaman 2nd Class, I think this entry changed his branch from Seaman Branch to Special Branch, and he was redesignated as a Hospital Apprentice 2nd Class (HA2) on 10 April 1946.  I also have no idea about the four-digit code at the end of the entry.  The Navy only started using mechanical computers using punch cards during the war to help with its massive personnel build-up—the rating responsible for handling this job was a Specialist (I), Punched Card Accounting Machine Operator.  So this was a fairly new field for all concerned, and some things had to be simplified to accommodate the mechanical computers of the time.

As for Robert White’s rating, the Communications Technician rating (CT) did not appear until 1947, when there was a massive restructuring of the Navy’s enlisted rating system.  Turret Captain duties involved taking charge of a gun turret and its crew, understanding all aspects of shipboard fire control as well as the operation and loading of turret guns, which on large warships can be quite complex.  If you live near a preserved battleship, it may be worthwhile for you to make a visit—perhaps down to Mobile, Alabama.  White’s seniority and his assignment to Prinz Eugen leads me to believe he was assigned to the ship to study and evaluate the cruiser’s armament, as the Germans had their own way of doing these things aboard their warships.

A. J.

Thank you, Ernest.

I agree with you.  Those codes are listed only for the strikers and petty officers, so that makes sense.

A. J.

Indeed, I read that one of the radar systems from Prinz was installed on a submarine for testing. So I guess for the codes, unless I find some manuals on operating 1940s era mechanical computers and their use in the navy, I'm out of luck. Then again, the navy, or at least the military is famous in my mind at least, for making manuals for everything under the sun. Maybe I'm not out of luck yet.
Thank you again for your help! The information about the redesignation of my grandfather to to Hospital apprentice is very helpful in fitting these rolls into the stories we know about him.

J.Y.

p.s. As for visiting the Alabama, I have...when I was a baby in a stroller. Maybe its time for another visit, it's only been near on two decades. Hah.

Perhaps the "6506"  is the Naval Enlisted Classification Code (NEC).  The one list I saw did not have that specific code but did have others with the 1st two digits of "65" and were for communication related specialty NECs.  Possibly 6506 has been retired or re-named.